Issue published: 31 December 2023

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The Populist Discourse of the Hungarian Prime Minister: The Case Study of Gyöngyöspata and Migration Crisis

Tofig Ismayilzada, p. 1–20

Abstract: The study aims to analyse if the Hungarian prime minister attempted to portray an ‘other’ image of the Roma ethnic minority group during the segregated primary school conflict in Gyöngyöspata. Moreover, the study will explore the Hungarian prime minister’s discourse on the migration crisis to understand if Viktor Orbán adopted the same communication strategy as in the Gyöngyöspata conflict. Comparing the two cases will allow us to identify the key similarities and differences in the discourse adopted by the Hungarian prime minister in different events. This research uses the qualitative content analysis methodology to examine the collected data. Besides this, the study concludes that Viktor Orbán attempted to portray an ‘other’ image of the Roma ethnic minority group during the Gyöngyöspata conflict. This study aims to fill a gap in the literature by analysing the Hungarian prime minister’s discourse on the Gyöngyöspata conflict and comparing his discourse on both cases.

Keywords: populism; discourse, Hungary, Gyöngyöspata, migration crisis

Cui prodest? Why local governance came to a deadlock in Hungary

László Kákai and Ilona Pálné Kovács, p. 21–42

Abstract: More than thirty years after Hungary’s transition to democracy and the change of territorial governance model, the time is now right to assess the outcome. This paper is primarily an assessment, concluding that the deadlock of the Hungarian local government system can be explained not only by the centralisation efforts of the governing and opposition political elites or the continuous decline of the budgetary position, but also by the indifference of local society. The fact is that the Hungarian local governments were not protected from being squeezed out of a significant part of public services, from a narrowing of their room to manoeuvre and from their authority position being weakened, by the general constitutional provisions introduced in 1990. An important proposition of this paper is that (local) society, although still more trusting of local governments than the central government according to various surveys, has not been able to become an ‘ally’ of local governments. The question rightly posed in the title of the paper is, whose interest is the local government system, who finds the values of self‑governance important? The paper seeks (based mainly on academic literature and on its own and secondary analyses) the reasons/changes that have led to the stalemate of Hungarian local governments despite their initially strong mandate.

Keywords: public law, constitution framework, local governments, local elections, voter turnout, municipal duties

Ostalgy in Flux? Transformations of the concept reflected in the case of (East) Germany

Petr Körfer, p. 43–60

Abstract: The contribution focuses on the origin, genesis and transformation of (n)ostalgy in the new German Bundesländer. It focuses on the political‑ideological, life biography, societal and economic frame of ostalgy and presents this phaenomenon as a general East‑Central European feature. Later, it specifically analyses the East German case presenting and analysing the uniqueness of this case. The intra‑German discourse isused as the main shape for such analysis, and the bipolarisation of the discourse and the stereotypes used. In the last analytical part we present the transmission of ostalgic supporters of the successor Party of Democratic Socialism towards the new radical party Alternative for Germany, showing the overlap of ostalgy as the socio‑economic and ideo‑political background with the new forms of anti‑liberal and nativist stances.

Keywords: nostalgia, ostalgy, post‑Communism, East Germany, counter‑cosmopolitanism

What Explains Party Membership in Post‑Yugoslav Countries: Socialism, Nationalism, Clientelism or False Reporting?

Dario Nikić Čakar and Goran Čular, p. 61–87

Abstract: Earlier studies on party membership in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) led to the conclusion that political parties in new democracies are not inclined to build strong party organisations or invest in recruiting members. However, several recent individual country studies point to the opposite conclusions, indicating that there are significant cross‑country variations in party membership figures across the post‑communist region. By using a unique dataset on party membership in post‑communist Europe, in this article we argue that the average membership level in CEE seems to be higher than in Western Europe. This holds true even when party membership figures for CEE countries are ‘corrected’ after conducting validity and reliability tests. Furthermore, we also find that party membership figures across CEE countries vary to a much higher degree than inestablished Western democracies. Our analysis shows that former Yugoslav countries are clustered at the top and other CEE countries at the bottom, leading to the conclusion that selection bias has been present in many studies on party membership that only included a limited number of post‑communist countries. In order to explain higher levels of party membership in post‑Yugoslav countries, we test three sets of explanatory variables, namely socialism, nationalism and clientelism. This exploratory study suggests that nationalist movements from the early period of transition, coupled with clientelistic politics, could serve as the most convincing explanation of high membership density in former Yugoslav countries.

Keywords: party membership, post‑communist countries, former Yugoslav states, socialism, clientelism, nationalism

‘Sympathy for the Devil?’ McDonald’s between imperialism and the building of post‑Yugoslav Serbian identity

Laurent Tournois, p. 89–112

Abstract: Since the opening of its first restaurant in a communist country, which was Yugoslavia, not only is the huge success of the U.S. franchise something that was merely not supposed to happen, but ‘consuming McDonald’s’ has left its mark on the post‑Yugoslav identity building process. Our central argument is that the singularity of the ‘McDonaldization of Serbia’ encompasses the interactions between expansion/localness, dominance/adaptation and those who take part in this historical process which spans more than three decades, their responses that apprise, shape and constrain their everyday life conditions. This paper starts from the observation that most of the existing scholarly literature on identity building addresses the end of the Yugoslav experience whether through state narratives or identities introverted. We chose a different and understudied angle, which is a people‑centred perspective. Accordingly, this paper uses different research methods under the umbrella of a biographical perspective from 1988 to 2021. Ethnographic fieldwork, comprising 45 semi‑structured interviews with Belgradians, aims to expand scholarly knowledge on consumption and identity building in post‑Yugoslav Serbia. In addition, conversations with influential individuals contributed to identify periods in the intermingled life of McDonald’s and people incontemporary Serbia. In the early 1990s, the McDonaldisation to some extent escalated cultural disputes between the republics against a backdrop of identity tensions. During the period spanning from the late years of Milosevic’s rule to the advent of Alexandar Vučić in 2012, political conflicts over sovereignty sparked ambiguous civic responses. Finally, McDonald’s has brought Serbs into the Western sphere which is probably besten capsulated in a local popular saying ‘McDonald’s is McDonald’s’ (‘Mek je Mek’), despite being considered ‘tasty’/unhealthy, expensive/rewarding or socially stimulating.

Keywords: identity building, consumerism, people‑centred perspective, McDonald’s, Yugoslavia, Serbia

Turbulent energy transformations in Central Europe: Nord Stream projects in the context of geopolitics

Attila Virág and Gréta Tancsa, p. 113–144

Abstract: The sabotage related to the Nord Stream pipelines does not only signify the Russo‑Ukrainian War’s escalated realities and potential future risks, also tied to the energy security of supply, but in addition to traditional economic and energetic dilemmas, it also has a specific meaning in light of classic geopolitical concepts. Our study aims to highlight that the contradictions between the direct or indirect nation‑state stakeholders, even nowadays, fit into the logic of the power plays illustrated in traditional geopolitical theories. And thus, the events related to the Nord Stream 2 project, as guiding principles, underline not only the energy relations of relevant international state actors appearing in the pipeline’s environment but also in the context of geopolitical positions and the structure of potential geopolitical transformations.

Keywords: geopolitics, Nord Stream 2, natural gas, gas pipeline, LNG

Populist attitudes in Croatia: first analysis with notes on conceptualisation and measurement

Bartul Vuksan‑Ćusa, p. 145–173

Abstract: This paper analyses individual‑level populism in Croatia. Starting from the ideational definition of populism, the study tests to what extent the economic grievances, sociocultural and ideational explanations, respectively, reflect the average populism subscriber in Croatia. The analysis was made using hierarchical linear regression based on field survey data from 2020 (n=979). Results show how populism is mostly associated with authoritarianism, conspiratorial thinking and institutional (dis)trust. The economic grievances explanation has only marginal relevance, revealing that sociotropic perception is more important than the socioeconomic position of the individual. Furthermore,the study emphasises the importance of operationalising populism in accordance withthe assumed structure of the concept. In the same vein, it is noted that populism onan attitudinal level should be separated from the concepts of thick ideologies. If this is not done with caution, the conclusions drawn are questionable, and the analytical contribution of populism is imprecisely determined.

Keywords: populist attitudes, ideational theory, economic grievances, sociocultural backlash, authoritarianism, conspiracy theories

REVIEW ESSAY

Šárka Waisová: Poor communication and weak coordination: Why is the development cooperation fragmented and international commitments to make it more efficient not working?